Citizen journalist killed in Homs

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(RSF/IFEX) - 30 December 2011 - Basil Al-Sayed, a 24-year-old citizen journalist based in the western city of Homs, was shot in the head by security forces while filming the latest bloodbath yesterday in the Homs district of Bab Amr and died while being taken to hospital.

Sources said Al-Sayed had been filming street protests and their dispersal by the security forces ever since the start of the uprising in Syria in March. He was one of the many Syrians who have taking considerable risks to cover the government's use of violence against demonstrators. Using a Samsung camera, he managed to film the security forces firing on protesters. Click here to see the latest video he filmed.

Al-Sayed is the second amateur journalist to be killed in Syria since the start of the uprising. The first was the photographer and video cameraman Ferzat Jarban, who was killed in Homs on 20 November. Citizen journalists have been playing a crucial role in providing information about developments in Syria as foreign journalists are banned from visiting the country.

Reporters Without Borders roundly condemns Al-Sayed's targeted killing and calls on the Arab League observers currently in Syria to investigate his death.

Reporters Without Borders published a report on 1 December, entitled “Upheaval in the Arab world: Media as key witnesses and political pawns” which analyses the methods used by the authorities to prevent the flow of information in six countries where there have been popular uprisings, from 17 December 2010 to mid-November this year. It includes a section on Syria.

Through this report the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) aims to highlight cases of ongoing killings, attacks and threats against journalists and other media workers in four countries, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and makes recommendations to enhance their protection using international mechanisms including the United Nations system.

The report examines the growing perils of journalism in Syria, analyzing the evolution in the dangers and identifying the origins of the threats and difficulties that Syrian and foreign news provider have encountered during the 32 months of the conflict.

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Freedom Forum monitored FoE during the elections as it concerns citizens' freedom of expression through the ballot box. Therefore, any action creating an unfavourable atmosphere for the elections is also a violation of freedom of expression.

A recent HKJA survey indicates a slight rise in the Hong Kong Press Freedom Index after two consecutive years of decline. Journalists on the ground believe that the situation has worsened in 2016, compared to the year before. HKJA chairperson Sham Yee-lan explained that the slight increase in the Press Freedom Index was likely to be related to the emergence of online media, which has led to some diversity in the industry.

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